CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In a backcourt battle, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team edged Omaha in the low scoring game 62-58 Saturday in the American Bank Center.
Although A&M-Corpus Christi (4-5) led for the entire second half, Omaha (5-6) would keep it within six for the final 12 minutes. It was crucial stops down the stretch, including a big-time block by redshirt sophomore
Stephen Giwa in the final eight seconds of the game, that helped keep the Mavericks at bay and give the Islanders the final four-point advantage.
The Islanders outrebounded the Mavericks 42-34 including 17-7 on the offensive board to outscore them 19-5 in second chance points. A&M-Corpus Christi also scored 13 points off 17 Omaha turnovers.
More than half of A&M-Corpus Christi's points came from off the bench, including a massive 19 points amassed by redshirt senior
Dayne Prim. He was hot from distance, where he sank three of his six field goals. He helped make up a trio of Islanders in double figures, along with junior
Garry Clark (13) and graduate
Marion Humphrey (10).
Giwa was the leading rebounder on the night with 12 in addition to going up for three blocks.
Omaha was paced by the 24-point performance from Frankie Fidler, who played for all but two minutes in the competition. He was one of three Mavericks to score at least 10, followed by Jaeden Marshall with 13 and Nick Davis with 12.
Neither team could get on the board until Omaha struck first at 17:45 with the inside lay-in. Graduate
Lance-Amir Paul got the Islanders going with the long-range shot and was soon met with a three from sophomore
Kam Parker at 14:35 to tie things up at 6-6.
For the next seven minutes, Prim heated up to score all of A&M-Corpus Christi's following 12 points. Off the steal, he drew the foul and made his free throws for the Islanders' final go-ahead points at 18-16 with 7:30 left in the half.
The fastbreak shot from junior
Jordan Roberts beyond-the-arc upped it to 23-16 at 5:08 and the Islanders got eight more chances at the charity strip to lead it 33-26 at the break.
Omaha answered with five straight points out of the half before Clark got up in the paint to cut the run short. Prim fired his third three of the day at 15:12 for the 40-34 lead. The Mavericks would get within one with 7:41 to go but Clark connected inside again before redshirt sophomore
Owen Dease sank the long-range shot to put the Islanders back out 53-47.
The Islander lead was trimmed yet again at 61-58 with 1:52 remaining, but a pair of steals and the denial by Giwa led to a free throw attempt by Humphrey and the Islanders escaped with the 62-58 victory.
It marks the program's 150th all-time win at the American Bank Center, as the team improves to 150-80 in the arena and 227-109 all-time at home.
Next up, the Islanders will hit the road to rematch UTRGV in the second meeting of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union. A&M-Corpus Christi will look to avenge a 76-74 loss in the first meeting, with tip set for 6:30 p.m.
NOTES
- It was just the second ever meeting between A&M-Corpus Christi and Omaha, as the Islanders improve to a perfect 2-0 against the Mavericks. The first meeting featured an 87-73 road win for the Islanders in 2021-22, which was the first year
Jim Shaw arrived on the Island.
- It is the second win of the year that the Islanders won by a narrow four points. The first was a 67-63 decision at UTEP, which marked the first career road win for coach Shaw, who ironically earned his master's degree from UTEP in 2005.
- A&M-Corpus Christi is now 20-0 over the last two seasons when holding the opposition to 70 points or less.
- The Islanders entered the game leading the conference in offensive rebounds (14.6 orpg) and will improve after grabbing 17 offensive boards. They were right on par with their league-leading rebound average (42.3). At least seven different Islanders have grabbed a rebound in every game this year.
- Prim registered his first double-figure scoring game of the season with the help of his career-high three made three-pointers in a game. The 19 points was one shy of his career best, set at his previous school on Nov. 10, 2022, against Ouachita Baptist.
- Clark submitted his fourth double digit scoring game of the season and third in the last five games. He has grabbed at least five rebounds in every game this year.
- Humphrey turned in his second 10+ scoring game of the season. Six of his points came from the charity strip, his season best.
- Giwa broke his career-highs in both rebounds (12) and blocks (3) in a game. It marks his first career 10+ rebounding game after his previous best was set at nine against Sul Ross on Dec. 31, 2021.
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